You've probably heard her voice all over the place, on songs ranging from Diddy's "Coming Home" to Lupe Fiasco's "Words I Never Said," to Kaskade's "Room For Happiness." Skylar Grey did not only sing — she wrote the hooks for every single one of those songs. This year has been very, very good for her, and it comes on the heels of another pretty decent year. Grey co-wrote, with producer Alex Da Kid, one of the biggest hits from 2010. "Love The Way You Lie," with Eminem and Rihanna, spent months on the charts.

At a sunny Los Angles recording studio, Grey reflected on her fabulous year. "So after 'Love the Way You Lie' was a big hit, Eminem invited us to work on [the album] Detox, and we gave him "I Need A Doctor,'" she says.

"I Need A Doctor" was the song that ushered Skylar Grey into the spotlight at the Grammys at the beginning of 2011. She emerged from the shadows, a slight, serious figure, at once beguilingly opaque (as her name would suggest) in affect, but with a voice decisive and clear.

Grey is a new name and a new persona for a young, bruised music industry veteran. Until recently, she was someone named Holly Brook. She started recording childrens' music professionally with her mother in Wisconsin when she was only six years old.

"I learned a lot singing with my mom," she says. "It gave me an advantage, I think, as an artist to have that under my belt — three albums by the time I was 15."

Holly Brook got signed to a major label when she was still a strong-willed teenager who found herself dumped by Warner Brothers by the time her solo album came out. She supported herself singing backup for musicians like Duncan Sheik, who composed the musical Spring Awakening. He cast her in other musicals in development, including one called Whisper House.

"She doesn't have this big voice," Sheik says on the phone from his New York apartment. "It's actually quite small and quiet. But it's very perfect and beautiful and her pitch is immaculate."

Holly Brook decided she needed to leave the business in order to reinvent herself. She moved to a remote cabin in Oregon. She lived there without heat for a year, she says, chopping wood and foraging.

"I was fearless," she says firmly. "And it was the first time in my life I ever felt like myself, finally — like nobody else could control me."

Grey's wearing a scrunched down wool hat and combat boots that look both battered and expensive. She's talking to Alex Da Kid, about a song that's her kiss-off to Holly Brook. It's called "Dance Without You."

"She wrote that — how quickly did you write that?" Alex Da Kid wants to know.

"Very quickly," Grey responds, a pleased smile fluttering across her face. "It just fell out of my mouth. Like 'Love The Way You Lie.'"

Grey wrote that hook in 15 minutes. Another song, "This Is Your Final Warning" took two whole hours. Like many of her songs, it's veined with references to violence, specifically domestic violence. That's not something Grey likes to talk about. But she agrees with the suggestion that perhaps it resonates with how her industry treats young women.

"I'm trying to make a statement as an artist," she says. "Because I feel right now pop culture has gone so visual. It's all about sex appeal and all that stuff. And I wanted to make a statement that the music can speak for itself. You don't have to cover it with bling and dumb stuff that doesn't even have anything to do with the music."

Grey understands that what propels the music industry is exactly what's messed up about it. And the person she's invented is very clear about how willing she is to play along.

Copyright 2018 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel.

2011 has been a bad year for many in the U.S., with the down economy and with many natural disasters. But this week, we're going to highlight some industries, ideas and people who've done well in a series called A Good Year. And this has been an amazing year for Skylar Grey. If you listen to top 40 music, you've heard her voice all over the place, perhaps this song from February.

SIEGEL: NPR's Neda Ulaby reports the 25-year-old musician is heading into next year with a new solo album this spring.

NEDA ULABY, BYLINE: Skylar Grey's great year started last year because of one monster hit she co-wrote for Rihanna.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LOVE THE WAY YOU LIE")

RIHANNA: (Singing) Just going to stand there and watch me burn. Well, that's all right because I like the way it hurts.

ULABY: "Love the Way You Lie" spent seven months on the pop charts.

GREY: So after "Love the Way You Lie" was a big hit, Eminem invited us to go work on "Detox," and we gave him "I Need a Doctor."

(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

ULABY: That song slid Skylar Grey closer to her real goal: stardom. She performed it at the Grammys in February with Dr. Dre and Eminem.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I NEED A DOCTOR")

GREY: (Singing) I need a doctor, call me a doctor. I need a doctor, doctor to bring me back to life.

EMINEM: (Rapping) I told the world...

ULABY: Skylar Gray is a new name and new persona for a young, bruised music industry veteran. Until recently, Skylar Grey was someone else. Her name was Holly Brook. She started recording children's music professionally with her mother in Wisconsin when she was only 6 years old.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

GREY: (Singing) Generations like a rock beneath the waters. Generations...

I learned a lot singing with my mom. It gave me an advantage, I think, as an artist to have that under my belt, you know, three albums by the time I was 15.

ULABY: Holly Brook got signed to a major label when she was still a teenager. A strong-willed teenager who got dumped by Warner Brothers by the time her solo album came out. She supported herself singing backup for musicians like Duncan Sheik. He's the guy who composed the musical "Spring Awakening," and he cast her in a few other musicals he's been working on, including one called "Whisper House."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AND NOW WE SING")

GREY: (Singing) And now, we'll sing of drowning things.

DUNCAN SHEIK SINGER: She doesn't have, like, this big voice. It's just kind of this actually quite small and quiet, but it's very perfect and beautiful, and her pitch is immaculate.

ULABY: Holly Brook decided she needed to leave the business in order to re-invent herself. She moved to a remote cabin in Oregon. She says she lived there for a year without heat, chopping wood, foraging.

GREY: I was fearless. It was the first time in my life I had ever felt like myself finally, you know, like nobody else could control me.

ULABY: That's when she chose the name Skylar Grey.

GREY: Because Holly Brook, to me, was a - like somebody who is controlled by everything around her instead of in control of her own life.

ULABY: Right now, Skylar Grey is hanging out in a sunlit Hollywood recording studio. She's wearing a scrunched down wool hat and combat boots that look both battered and expensive. She's talking to her producer, Alex Da Kid, about a song that's her kiss-off to Holly Brook.

GREY: That's one of my most favorite production of yours, by the way...

ULABY: Why?

GREY: ...or one of.

ALEX DA KID: Yeah, why?

GREY: Because I really like the sounds. That thing that sounds like a crazy-sounding guitar is actually him singing.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

GREY: And he, like, puts it through all these effects. And then the beat boxing, it's...

(SOUNDBITE OF BEAT BOXING)

KID: You know, she just wrote that, and it was - I don't know. How quickly did you write that?

GREY: Very quickly. It just fell out of my mouth, like "Love the Way You Lie."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DANCE WITHOUT YOU")

GREY: (Singing) I want to dance without you.

ULABY: That hook, she wrote in 15 minutes. Another song they play in the studio took much longer to write: two whole hours.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FINAL WARNING")

GREY: (Singing) This is your final warning. There's a dark cloud overhead. This is your final warning. Just remember what I said. Someone's going to get hurt.

ULABY: Skylar Grey does not like to talk about the veins of violence that run through her lyrics, but she says it might have a small something to do with her industry and how it treats young women.

GREY: I'm trying to make a statement as an artist because I feel like, right now, where pop culture and pop music has gone is so visual. It's all about, like, the sex appeal, and the music can speak for itself. You don't have to cover it with bling and dumb stuff that doesn't even have anything to do with the music.

ULABY: She understands that what propels the music industry is exactly what's messed up about it. And the person Skylar Grey invented has set very clear limits of how willing she is to play along. Neda Ulaby, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.